Rookie pitcher Kim Young-woo of the professional baseball LG Twins recorded his first save in his debut.

On the 29th, Kim Young-woo appeared in the 9th inning, leading 3-1, against the Hanwha Eagles at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, pitching 1 inning with 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, and no runs to secure the win and record the save. It was his debut save. He achieved a maximum fastball speed of 155 km/h.

Kim Young-woo struck out lead-off batter Moon Hyun-bin with a swinging strike on a 155 km/h fastball in a 2-strike count. Next, Roh Si-hwan was given 4 fastballs and walked on a straight base on balls. Pitching coach Kim Kwang-sam came to the mound to encourage him before leaving.

With one out and a man on first base, Kim Young-woo struck out Chae Eun-seong, who hit a two-run homer the previous day, with a curveball in a 2-ball, 2-strike count. He threw 5 pitches, 4 of which were curveballs. Having overcome a significant hurdle, Kim Young-woo induced Lee Jin-young to ground out to the shortstop with two outs and a man on first, ending the game.

LG won 3-1 against Hanwha, pushing the second-place Hanwha down by 3.5 games.

Kim Young-woo explained, "Senior Moon Hyun-bin struck out with the pitch combination that Dong-won senior wanted, but I ended up in a 3-ball count against Senior Roh Si-hwan, so I thought it would be better to just give him a ball at 3 balls, because he is a senior who hits well even at 3 balls-1 strike, rather than giving up a long hit. Before facing the next hitter, Senior Chae Eun-seong, I discussed the pitch combination with Coach Kim Kwang-sam and Senior Dong-won, so I thought we should plan our strategy intentionally."

After the game, Kim Young-woo said, "One of my goals this year was to achieve a win, hold, and save, one by one, and I think I accomplished that a bit sooner than expected. I really want to thank the coaches and coach who gave me this opportunity. If I get more chances in the future, I will seize them all."

He added, "I was thinking that Senior Jin-sung from the bullpen and Hyung Myung-geun would be resting today, so I just thought I might appear in the later innings, but I had no idea I would be getting a save."

Youm Kyoung-youb, the manager, mentioned during spring training that rookie Kim Young-woo might be a candidate for closing if 5.2 billion won free agent Jang Hyun-sik was uncertain to join the opening day due to an ankle injury. On this day, with the entire winning squad resting, he handed the closing role to Kim Young-woo.

Kim Young-woo said, "Despite it being a tight 3-1 situation, I'm really grateful that you trusted me and entrusted me with it. I believe I'm continually receiving opportunities, and I worked hard to seize those opportunities. I am really thankful to Coach Kim Kwang-sam, Coach Jang Jin-yong, and the manager for supplementing my training in many aspects."

During the 8th inning, while preparing to pitch in the 9th, LG scored another run, increasing the score from 2-1 to 3-1. Kim Young-woo stated, "There’s a bit of a different mindset going up in a 2-1 situation compared to a 3-1 situation. When Senior Min-jae kept choosing pitches, I thought we would score, and when we scored another point, I felt a bit more comfortable going up there and pitched confidently."

The feeling of coming to the mound in a save situation was different from previous appearances. Kim Young-woo said with a smile, "To be honest, it felt a bit different. My mindset was definitely the same; it’s just throwing the same pitches. I tried to keep my mind the same, but to be honest, I was more nervous than I expected, and I felt a bit more adrenaline, or something like that."

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